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Sunday, September 30, 2012

SINGAPORE: As one of
the first countries where Apple's iPhone 5 has been launched,
Singapore's become a conduit to a lucrative black market for the coveted
product.

As Channel NewsAsia finds out, overseas traders are
flocking to the country to buy the phones for resale, in their home
countries.

On 20 September, the night before Apple's iPhone 5
official launch in Singapore, some in the crowd were foreign buyers -
all players in a thriving iPhone black market.

Demand is especially high in countries where the smartphone hasn't been launched.

Channel NewsAsia has learnt the traders come from around the region, including Thailand and Vietnam.

And they make quick work of buying the phones.

Trader
"Martin" said: "People fly to Singapore and Hong Kong and they queue
for the iPhone 5 then they gather some Vietnamese youngsters in those
countries and they get together and queue at the Apple stores. You have
to hand carry the iPhone 5 into Vietnam. You can only buy four or five
pieces."

To amass enough iPhone 5s, "Martin" revealed he has friends who fly to Singapore every day to buy the phones.

Back in Vietnam, an auction is held with the phones going for as high as double the original price.

A 64gb iPhone5 without contract retails for about S$1,200 in Singapore.

Such trading is also taking place within Singapore, as one iPhone buyer says.

Lee
Jun Kiat says: "I was actually approached by this couple who offered to
take over my iPhone 5 which I had just acquired from the launch event
for S$1,100. They asked if I was keen to sell my iPhone and told me I
could make quick cash out of it."

But one lawyer warns that such activity may be unlawful, especially when it involves unauthorised dealers.

George
Hwang says: "When you're going to buy the hand phone yourself from an
authorised dealer, and after one day, decide to sell it, there is no
problem. However, when you buy it from third parties, and resell them,
you could fall under the Secondhand Goods Dealers Act."

Mr Hwang says there is a list of items under the Act which requires a person to be licensed, to re-sell them.

This is to prevent the trading of stolen goods.

It gets tricky once the phones are overseas, as Singapore does not have jurisdiction in other countries.

A check with several retailers shows that there are safeguards in place, to prevent black market trading.